Raspberry Pi Model B+

[wlanboy]

They upgraded the Raspberry Pi Model B - called it B+.

Same price tag with some neat features:

• They upgraded the GPIO header from 26 pins to 40 pins
• They doubled the USB 2.0 ports to 4.
• They changed the SD card adapter to Micro SD
• They replaced the linear regulators with switching ones to reduce the power consumption about 1W.
• They added a dedicated low-noise power supply for the audio circuit

Nice looking one.

They keep the old B model for fans but if you want to buy a Raspberry Pi - take the B+ one.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

Heh.. wish I could justify a reason to get one.  Can't think of any projects I could put it to use for, though.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

So what are the applications of the improvements or changes from Model B and Model B+?  

I mean you have more pins now (almost double) but as an individual who never really used the pins on my RaspberryPi to begin with, what additional application does this bring?

Could you clarify on the low-noise power supply for the audio circuit?  I mean... wasn't it already pretty quiet? 

 

[yomero]

So what are the applications of the improvements or changes from Model B and Model B+?  

I mean you have more pins now (almost double) but as an individual who never really used the pins on my RaspberryPi to begin with, what additional application does this bring?

Could you clarify on the low-noise power supply for the audio circuit?  I mean... wasn't it already pretty quiet? 

I have one too. And I don't use that pins. So I guess this changes nothing for us. Maybe the extra usb ports are useful for adding some usb memory.

And particularly about the audio, I guess they mean that you have better sound quality. Because the analog audio really sucks, and to be honest is the worst that I've been listened ever :S

 

[HalfEatenPie]

I have one too. And I don't use that pins. So I guess this changes nothing for us. Maybe the extra usb ports are useful for adding some usb memory.

And particularly about the audio, I guess they mean that you have better sound quality. Because the analog audio really sucks, and to be honest is the worst that I've been listened ever :S

Huh.  To be honest I never used the audio port on my raspberry pi so I didn't know it was that big of an issue. 

Well should be interesting to see what else can come out from it then! 

 

[BlackoutIsHere]

My pi speaks with Google TTS to notify me of downtime events and I never noticed anything especially bad about the audio but it also isn't a very wide spectrum to test with.  The only thing I have used the header pins for is my PiGlow (LED Shield) and have it programmed to flash when something is wrong.

 

[wlanboy]

So what are the applications of the improvements or changes from Model B and Model B+? 

Could you clarify on the low-noise power supply for the audio circuit?  I mean... wasn't it already pretty quiet? 

Regarding your second question.

The problem was the poor audio quality and background noise of the Raspberry Pi if the output was analog audio.

Cause was the digital-to-analogue converter which was on the 3.3V line.

If you had any components on your PINs that were powered by the 3.3V line too you had that sound problem.

That problem is now fixed with the new layout.

Applications?

- More PINs (hello Arduino)

- 4 USB ports - so more addons without hub.

 

[willie]

As I understand it:

1) the extra GPIO is useful to people doing hardware control.  Higher gpio count is a selling point of the Beaglebone Black.

2) The extra USB ports mean you can use USB storage, wifi dongle, keyboard and mouse simultaneously without needing a hub.

3) The mounting holes make it easier to put the board in a standard enclosure, and moving the connectors so more are on the same side helps with that too.  The old Pi sprouted an industry of custom enclosures to deal with its shape and lack of mounting holes.

It's still the same comparatively slow cpu with proprietary firmware blobs.  I still prefer the Beaglebone Black.  The more upscale, forthcoming Intel Minnowboard Max (minnowboard.org) also looks interesting.

 

[SwitchBlade]

Would like to see one with two ethernet ports instead of just one.

 

[wcypierre]

Regarding your second question.

The problem was the poor audio quality and background noise of the Raspberry Pi if the output was analog audio.

Cause was the digital-to-analogue converter which was on the 3.3V line.

If you had any components on your PINs that were powered by the 3.3V line too you had that sound problem.

That problem is now fixed with the new layout.

Applications?

- More PINs (hello Arduino)

- 4 USB ports - so more addons without hub.

Are the usb ports still sharing the same bandwidth as the ethernet? I would rather have dedicated bandwidth for both of them but oh well............

 

[JahAGR]

Nice to see they kept composite video available on the 3.5mm jack. Held off on getting a BeagleBone Black because HDMI is the only way to get audio or video off the thing...

According to comments on the post about the Pi, ethernet is still on USB, basically just on a 4-port hub now instead of 2.

New PCB layout is nice too.

 

[drmike]

Nice to see they kept composite video available on the 3.5mm jack. Held off on getting a BeagleBone Black because HDMI is the only way to get audio or video off the thing...

According to comments on the post about the Pi, ethernet is still on USB, basically just on a 4-port hub now instead of 2.

New PCB layout is nice too.

I use a ~ $10 HDMI cable adapter that breaks out the port to 3.5mm audio jack we all know and love and a VGA monitor port.   Both allow for connecting Pi's to legacy stuff that is sitting idle probably...

 

[drmike]

It's still the same comparatively slow cpu with proprietary firmware blobs.  I still prefer the Beaglebone Black.  The more upscale, forthcoming Intel Minnowboard Max (minnowboard.org) also looks interesting.

The Minnowboard Max looked interesting until I saw $139 for a dual core model... Has SATA also....

Not really a Pi competitor big picture....

 

[wlanboy]

Are the usb ports still sharing the same bandwidth as the ethernet? I would rather have dedicated bandwidth for both of them but oh well............

As far as I know yes.

They wrote about a separate power line and that they support up to 1.2A but nothing about a separate connection.

 

[blergh]

This reminded me that i have a Pi up and running at my old apartment that i forgot about.. lol.

 

[cspacews]

1 Reduction in USB Port instead of

Regarding your second question.

The problem was the poor audio quality and background noise of the Raspberry Pi if the output was analog audio.

Cause was the digital-to-analogue converter which was on the 3.3V line.

If you had any components on your PINs that were powered by the 3.3V line too you had that sound problem.

That problem is now fixed with the new layout.

Applications?

- More PINs (hello Arduino)

- 4 USB ports - so more addons without hub.

1 USB reduction in place of additional LAN would make it perfect

 

[drmike]

This reminded me that i have a Pi up and running at my old apartment that i forgot about.. lol.

That's funny.. I sold a property and entirely forgot a bunch of gear wired and on in a property...  remembered 2 years later when looking for something...

Totally could do that with a Pi these days.... since I like integrating gear into structures when I can...

 

[BlackoutIsHere]

1 USB reduction in place of additional LAN would make it perfect

Except they share the same bandwidth so it wouldn't really be different from adding a USB NIC would it?

 

[yomero]

Except they share the same bandwidth so it wouldn't really be different from adding a USB NIC would it?

It will. Because the USB 2.0 standard has 480Mbps. Well, in theory... But I guess the crappy USB controller has enough to push at least half of that, and then two Ethernet 100 can be used.

Edit: I've re-read your sentence. You are right

Anyway, I am thinking on getting an USB to Ethernet adapter...

 

[William]

The 4 ports are in itself already HUBed and not dedicated, a USB NIC will result in slow speed if the other one or other USB hardware is actively used.